Florence State Prison cracking down on security after January inmate escape

FLORENCE, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona corrections officials say they have made enhancements on fence structures and gates in response to an escape of two incarcerated men from a prison earlier this year.

The announcement Friday by the Arizona Department of Corrections, rehabilitation and reentry came shortly after the agency released 400 pages of records from an investigation into the January 23 escape by David T. Harmon and John B. Charpiot from the State Prison Complex in Florence.

The records were heavily redacted and provided very little new information on the escape, but authorities say the pair used stolen tools to breach a fence, tried to rob a business before running away when a clerk screamed for help and were caught five days later in a cotton field near Coolidge, Arizona, after people had reported seeing the prisoners.